Perceived Needs and Barriers to Accessing Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) Services Among the Ik Community, Kaabong District, Uganda

Background: The Ik are minority group of people in Kaabong district, Uganda. They are the most marginalized. In addition, little is known about their perceived SRH needs and barriers to accessing SRH services.Objective: To determine perceived needs and barriers to accessing SRH services by the Ik community.Material and Methods: A cross-sectional analytical design with analytical was used, both quantitative and qualitative (mixed methods). Data was collected using key informant interviews, focus group discussions and semi-structured questionnaires. Sample of 345 participants selected randomly and purposively. Qualitative analysis was thematic whereas Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) was for quantitative analysis.Results: Perceived SRH needs of the Ik were; limited access to SRH information, lack of protection from gender-based violence and lack of access to comprehensive safe motherhood programs. Access to SRH services was limited mainly by poverty, limited range of available RH services, long distances to health facilities, poor attitudes of health workers, culture, poor road networks and language barriers. Individual factors; period in marriage (p=0.047), number of sex partners (p=0.041), type of house structure one lived in (p=0.039), economic activity (p=0.009) were significantly associated with access of SRH services.Conclusion: SRH needs of the Ik community is still wanting

‘A home by the sea’

In 2001 excavation works undertaken in advance of quarrying at East Barns, East Lothian, revealed the substantial remains of a robust Mesolithic house structure, securely dated to the late 9th millennium BC. The house was situated within a large, natural hollow whose gradual infilling had effectively sealed the archaeological deposits. The house consisted of a sub-circular sunken floor with the remains of a westfacing entrance and two concentric angled post rings, suggesting episodes of replacement if not actual rebuilding. The remains of interior furniture were also recorded in the form of post holes, a platform, and three probable hearth features. A charred deposit of occupation debris rich in lithics sealed many of thestructural features around the internal perimeter of the house. The distribution of this deposit appeared to reflect informal refuse toss/drop zones formed during the occupation of the structure and suggests some form of internal spatial organisation. The house at East Barns joins an increasing group of substantial analogous sites related to Early Mesolithic activity in Scotland and northern England. These substantial house sites reflect increasing socio-economic, cultural and chronological complexity during the Mesolithic. As such the site allows provisional hypotheses to be formed about the scale and nature of Early Mesolithic social and economic adaptation around the North Sea Basin.

House Structure Is Associated with Malaria among Febrile Patients in a High-Transmission Region of Zambia

Since the late nineteenth century, the importance of house structure as a determinant of malaria risk has been recognized. Few studies to date have examined the association of housing and malaria in clinical populations. We conducted a cross-sectional study of febrile patients (n = 282) at two rural health clinics in a high malaria-transmission area of northern Zambia. Participants underwent testing for Plasmodium falciparum infection by PCR. Demographic and other risk factors including house structure, indoor residual spraying (IRS), bed net use, education level, and household income were collected. Data were fitted to logistic regression models for relational and mediation analyses. Residing in a house with a thatch roof was associated with higher odds of malaria than residing in a house with corrugated metal (odds ratio: 2.6; 95% CI: 1.0–6.3, P = 0.04). Lower income and educational attainment were also associated with greater odds of malaria. Living under a thatch roof accounted for 24% (95% CI: 14–82) of the effect of household income on malaria risk, and income accounted for 11% (95% CI: 8–19) of the effect of education. Neither IRS nor bed net use was associated with malaria risk despite large, local investments in these vector control interventions. The findings testify to malaria as a disease of rural poverty and contribute further evidence to the utility of housing improvements in vector control programs.

Bronze Age and Early Iron Age house and settlement development at Forsandmoen, south-western Norway

The ambition of this monograph is to analyse a limited number of topics regarding house types and thus social and economic change from the extensive material that came out of the archaeological excavation that took place at Forsandmoen (“Forsand plain”), Forsand municipality, Rogaland, Norway during the decade 1980–1990, as well as the years 1992, 1995 and 2007. The excavation was organised as an interdisciplinaryresearch project within archaeology, botany (palynological analysis from bogs and soils, macrofossil analysis) and phosphate analysis, conducted by staff from the Museum of Archaeology in Stavanger (as it was called until 2009, now part of the University of Stavanger). A large phosphate survey project had demarcaded a 20 ha settlement area, among which 9 ha were excavated using mechanical topsoil stripping to expose thehabitation traces at the top of the glaciofluvial outwash plain of Forsandmoen. A total of 248 houses could be identified by archaeological excavations, distributed among 17 house types. In addition, 26 partly excavated houses could not be classified into a type. The extensive house material comprises three types of longhouses, of which there are as many as 30–40 in number, as well as four other longhouse types, of which there are only 2–7 in number. There were nine other house types, comprising partly small dwelling houses and partly storage houses, of which there were 3–10 in number. Lastly, there are 63 of the smallest storage house, consisting of only four postholes in a square shape. A collection of 264 radiocarbon dates demonstrated that the settlement was established in the last part of the 15th century BC and faded out during the 7th–8th century AD, encompassing the Nordic Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. As a number of houses comprising four of the house types were excavated with the same methods in the same area by the same staff, it is a major goal of this monograph to analyse thoroughly the different featuresof the houses (postholes, wall remains, entrances, ditches, hearths, house-structure, find-distribution) and how they were combined and changed into the different house types through time. House material from different Norwegian areas as well as Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands is included in comparative analyses to reveal connections within the Nordic area. Special attention has been given to theinterpretation of the location of activity areas in the dwelling and byre sections in the houses, as well as the life expectancy of the two main longhouse types. Based on these analyses, I have presented a synthesis in 13 phases of the development of the settlement from Bronze Age Period II to the Merovingian Period. This analysis shows that, from a restricted settlement consisting of one or two small farms in the Early BronzeAge, it increases slightly throughout the Late Bronze Age to 2–3 solitary farms to a significantly larger settlement consisting of 3–4 larger farms in the Pre-Roman Iron Age. From the beginning of the early Roman Iron Age, the settlement seems to increase to 8–9 even larger farms, and through the late Roman Iron Age, the settlement increases to 12–13 such farms, of which 6–7 farms are located so close together that they would seem to be a nucleated or village settlement. In the beginning of the Migration Period, there were 16–17 farms, each consisting of a dwelling/byre longhouse and a workshop, agglomerated in an area of 300 x 200 m where the farms are arranged in four E–W oriented rows. In addition, two farms were situated 140 m NE of the main settlement. At the transition to the Merovingian Period, radiocarbon dates show that all but two of the farms were suddenly abandoned. At the end of that period, the Forsandmoen settlement was completely abandoned. The abandonment could have been caused by a combination of circumstances such as overexploitation in agriculture, colder climate, the Plague of Justinian or the collapse of the redistributive chiefdom system due to the breakdown of the Roman Empire. The abrupt abandonment also coincides with a huge volcanic eruption or cosmic event that clouded the sun around the whole globe in AD 536–537. It is argued that the climatic effect on the agriculture at this latitude could induce such a serious famine that the settlement, in combination with the other possible causes, was virtually laid waste during the ensuing cold decade AD 537–546.

The Impact of Transportation and Walkability on Residential Property Value

In order to determine the impact of transportation and walkability as one of the important smart growth principles in creating economic value, this study examines the impact of transportation and walkability on Residential Property Value in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia neighborhoods. Based on secondary data collected on Brickz.com, a hedonic regression model was constructed to estimate median Residential Property Value in Shah Alam, Selangor for the Residential Property Value assessment. The model's findings demonstrate that transportation and walkability factors have less impact on estimated Residential Property Value than other residential structure characteristics such as number of floors, number of bedrooms, and land area. Only three variables from the Structure Characteristic were statistically significant in this study: Structure Characteristic no of the floor, Structure Characteristic No of the Bedroom and Structure Characteristic Land Area. Consequently, all transportation and walkability are insignificant towards residential house prices. This shows that there are still ways to increase house prices through attractive house structure planning. With this, the formation of an attractive house structure in development planning is an important aspect in increasing the demand for house prices while rising house prices efficiently. The adoption of the appropriate use of public transport uses the principle of good growth to achieve added value and improve the overall quality of life in the neighborhood.

Model Comparison of The Floating Foundations for The Development of Floating Houses at Coastal Areas

ABSTRACT Floating house is a building, which stands or floats on water by relying itself on the weight and the area sunk as the load parameter compatible to the structure. This house can float or be placed on the seashore on the water. This research was conducted by comparing the magnitude of the floating force (Fa) of the three foundation materials of the houses, namely plastic drum, Styrofoam and bamboo. The materials were calculated based on the total load of the house (G), with the safety number of 1.5. .The research result is the total load of the floating house structure (G) is 364.585,5 Newton (down), the floating force (Fa) magnitude of plastic drum as the foundation material is 549,814 Newton (upward), Styrofoam as the foundation material is 552,720 Newton (upward), and Bamboo as the foundation material is 540,883 Newton (upward). The amounts of the foundation materials for plastic drum are 232 pieces, for Styrofoam are 56 sheets, and for bamboo are 3900 sticks. Keywords: Floating house, floating foundation, floating force, plastic drum, Styrofoam, bamboo

FACTORS INFLUENCING HOME BUYERS’ PURCHASE DECISIONS IN KLANG VALLEY, MALAYSIA

Focusing on Klang Valley, this research studies the outcome of house purchase factors in Malaysia. This research identifies the house purchase factors that affect home buyers’ purchase decisions. The researcher collected data using SurveyMonkey by using a questionnaire to elicit the opinions of Klang Valley residents on housing purchase factors and purchase decision. The factors were evaluated and studied to identify their influence on home buyers’ purchase decision. Findings show that home buyers’ purchase decision are influenced by house structure, space, finance, location, and neighbourhood factors. The findings have laid a foundation for the housing industry to improve.